Week Four Blog

Lecture: This week's lecture was all to do with the WWW (world wide web) and the background information behind it. From questions asked by our lecturer we learnt that the internet was invented by a man called Tim Bernus-lee and that the first ever web page was constructed in 1989. Since then the WWW has come along way as it was originally built for academic use by university students but now is used for basically anything ranging from social uses to even shopping online.

Although the internet seems easy enough to use there are certain protocols behind it, the main four include:

• TCP/IP

• HTTP

• DNS
  

• URL
  

These protocols basically allow signals to be passed through existing phone lines and networks which are then converted back once they reach the desired computer.

As well as the certain protocols in place there are also different endings to web adresses other than .com (commericial), these are:

• .org (organisation)

• .net (network)

• .gov (government)

• .edu (education)

All the information we learnt from todays lecture can help us be more efficient when browsing the internet.

Workshop:

In this week's workshop we had 4 tasks to complete all involving web adresses and determining weather or not the website is authentic or something that isn't ment to be taken to seriously. From this we can evaluate sites more effectively and choose which information is actually useful to us.

Task 1:

Part One:

The first part of this task reuqired us to comment on if we thought these sites would be authentic without visiting them, the sites

were as follows:

http://www.haggishunt.scotsman.com/

This site is a commercial site which indica

tes it may not be as reliable as a site that is an organisation, education or government based website

http://www.molossia.org/
Due to this site been organisation based I would take it more seriously and think that the information provided is reasonably credible

Part Two:The second part of task one involved us evaluating the site and finding four clues that show it's something not ment to be taken seriously

Four points for http://www.haggishunt.scotsman.com/ :

• The profile on Farqhuar Farqhuarson isnt real as the information on his birthday states "probably" and for sex it states "we profoundly hope not"

• Farqhuar Farqhuarson's name changes when you open up his profile

• The image on the front is manipulated so that there is the head of a platapuss on a hedgehog body
  
  
  



• The haggis facts are very fake and in a way commical, for example "Only one substance can hide the odours of a haggis hunter: whisky"
  
  

Four points for http://www.molossia.org/ :

• The website has no real structure and is poorly presented which suggests it isn't produced by a professional editor
  

• The hyper links on the left don't show properly, when you mouse over them no hand appears
  

• The information provided on different sections is very small, and often questionable
  

• They have a navy which consists of three rubber boats, this is commical
  

Part Two:

The first part required us to comment on www.martinlutherking.org and what we thought we would find there. From the URL I'd expect it to be a biography on Martin Luther King which would include his achievements and the various things he has done for society.

Once actually visiting the site i was appalled to find a site purely based upon racist views which was unfair to Martin and the black community, this site defiantly cannot be taken into consideration as biast views are clearly present and the information isn't what it should be.

• A screen shot of the homepage showing racial headlines

• Showing a link from the Martin Luther website and the racist views present
  

From seeing this website i went further and decided to see what Martin had actually done and the achievements he had accomplished. The research showed that he was a leader for the black community against racism and was one of the first men to stand up for their rights. He was also influential in the civil rights movement which helped provide equality between the white and black community.

Evidence showing

Extra reading:
This weeks extra reading was to do with the history of the internet and were it originated from. From reading the first article there were a few key points that were noted:

• The idea of the internet was first put forward in 1963

• It wasn't until 1965 that it was fully working

• As the internet developed it became a competitive field to be the best ISP available

• The potential for the internet is unlimited and we should see the speed increase over the years that follow

The second website was much the same explaining the history of the internet, it had 5 chapters each detailing a different section about the internet:

• "the development of computers till 1960's"

• "from ARPANET to world wide web"

• "history of electronic mail"

• "search engines"

• "basic net data"
  

Week Three Blog

Lecture: From this weeks lecture we learn't that Online Libraries and Databases will be vital in our success at university as they posses alot of information that can be accessed 24/7 from any location around the world. We were also told about copyright issues involving online journals etc as they have to be referenced properly or plagiarism can come into play. There is often information and guide lines on each site to there copyright laws but often it comes down to the individual to make sure they are abiding by the copyright laws

There are Five main types of online libraries, these are:

• Online Journals

• Online text repositories

• Electronic books

• Musical

• Artwork

Although mostly positive, there are certain disadvantages when it comes to online Libraries and databases:

• To be able to gain access to the text's you often have to subscribe and therefore it isn't accessible by the general public

• Indexes are often not available to specific information on what you are searching is required

• Databases will often contain alot of spam/advertising making it difficult to navigate

Although Online Libraries and databases are classified differently they are basically identical sharing the same pros and cons as well as sharing the same goal, to offer the individual as much information as possible.

Workshop: In this week's Tutorial we had to complete a variety of tasks involving locating information on the "impact of global warming on business" using the online library as well visiting the MEDline website and from there looking into a particular condition or drug.

Task 1:

Step 1: Go to http://www.ecu.edu.au/library/ and familerise yourself with the website


Step 2: Click on the hyper link "journal articles (databases)"


Step 3: Next click on the hyper link "Find databases by title" which will open a new tab


Step 4: From here find the link ABI/Inform Global and click on it


Step 5: This will bring you to a page were you can specify your search to the smallest detail


Step 6: Under "limit results to:" check both boxes and then define your search how you wish


Step 7: A list of the results will then come and you are able to choose which you would like to view
Ten useful search tips:

• Use quotations whenever searching exact phrases.

• * can be used if you want to search multiple things based around the same word, for example racis* will search racism, racist etc.

• ? can be used to replace any character within a word, for example m?n well search man and men.

• "Or" will search both words, for example soccer or football.

• W/#, when searching more than one word and you want them to be within a certain number of words of each other use W/#, for example computer W/2 careers.
  

• When looking for the appendix of a certain document use APX(searching term)

• When looking for an abstract, use ABS(searching term)

• If you want to find articles written by a specific author put AU and then the authors name in brackets.

• If you want to find publications between a certain date put PDN(mm/dd/yyyy)

• If you want to change or see what language the document was originally published in type, type LA(language you want to view the document in) in the search box

Task 2:

Our second task required us to visit http://medlineplus.gov/

From there we had to find a condition that interested us and use the built in search engine to help us better our understanding of the condition. This site provided very in depth information for the viewer and many people interested in medicine would find the site very interesting as well as people with injuries wanting to find out more or others doing research on a certain condition.

Extra reading:

"Finding what you want on the web"

This article explored the idea of using different search engines instead of always referring to Google and yahoo etc. Although he spent a few weeks researching and finding alternatives he found that engines such as Google and yahoo will remain dominant until the world wide web changes for the better. People think that searching something in Google and clicking on the top link is acceptable, however it isn't as there are a wide variety of sources such on online journals etc available which people never even consider.

"Bare bones lesson 7: Basic search tips"

The second article was based around helpful tips when using search engines, it showed certain symbols which help to better our search terms. Things such as the "+" and "-" symbols allow us to force certain words to be looked at or in the opposite case not to be looked at. It also told us to make sure we know the basics of the search engine we use, for example does it maintain stop word lists etc.

Week Two Blog

Lecture: This weeks lecture was based around common computer tasks and the programs available on them. In the lecture we had to name Microsoft programs we knew of as well as search engines available on the internet, from this we learn't that there were many programs and search engines available to us while at university. We were also shown that there is a variety of ways to present assignments and use different programs to analyise statistics etc.

Workshop: In this week's workshop we focused on Microsoft programs Word and Excel, we were shown how to use shortcuts and different tools to our advantage.

Below is a summary of the different things learn't from the different programs:

Microsoft Word:

How to:

• Create line spacing in the document



• Add page numbers as well as headers and footers

• Create a table of contents



• Format paragraphs and set margins

Microsoft Excel:

How to:

• Create a series for example Monday to Sunday

• Create more than one and colour code each sheet



• colour code and adjust the margin of each cell



• Create a sum to help manage expenses

We then had to complete a series of tasks involving the two programs, which were based aroud what we had learnt during the tutorial, these activites could be found on blackboard.

The Microsoft Word activites required us to do as follows:

Step 1: Open a new document

Step 2: Copy and paste text from the activity worksheet
Step 3: Adjust the margins, typeface and line spacing

Step 4: Create a Header and Footer

Step 5: Alphabetize certain references

The Excel tasks required us to do:

Step 1: Create a table following certain instructions

Step 2: Create a pie chart using the data in the table



Step 3: Create a Bar graph representing hours spent on social time



Extra Reading:

Using MS Word for APA tasks:

This document explained how to do the following things:

• Set the TypeFace (font type and size etc.)

• Page setup (margins etc.)

• Page headers and page numbers.

• Line spacing.

• Hyper linking to websites etc.

• Dot leaders for table of contents.

• How to customise the toolbar to your liking.

Graphic Formating:

This document covers the five different types of graphic formats and explain's them in detail.

These formats are:

• Bitmap (.bmp) is the basic image format for PC's, it can be saved as a 1-bit image up to and including 24bit, this number changes how big and how much colour will be in the image

• CompuServe (.gif) supports up to a maximum 256 colours and is best used in HTML documents, it also supports moving images which is an added bonus.

• Joint Photographic Experts Group (.jpg) is the most common format used as it retains all the images colour when saved as well as greatly compressing the image increasing file transfer time.

• The Tagged-Image File Format (.tiff) can be read by all PC platforms making it the most flexible format, it also retains all of the images quality even when compressed making it the most used when it comes to professional printing.

• The last format been the photo shop document (.psd, .psp, .spp) is the only format that supports layered imaging as the rest are all flat images, because of this it allows the image to altered greatly.
  

Week One Blog

Lecture: On the 29th of February we were introduced to the fourth unit of the Uni preparation course, Accessing and Organising Knowledge (UPC0004). With the information gained from the lecture i gathered that this unit would mainly be focusing on the use of computers and the publishing programs available on them, as well as being able to use online resources to gather information.


Workshop: Following the lecture we then had our tutorial which involved two main tasks, one of which was to create a blog via the site www.blogger.com and the other to create an Image Shack account which we can then upload pictures and post on our blog's. There were also little activities which included logging into our student email and making sure it worked, we also explored the ECU website, eg black board, SIMO etc.

The steps to creating a Blog are displayed below:

Step 1: Go to www.blogger.com and click the hyper link "create your blog now"


Step 2: Then enter your details including email address, password etc.


Step 3: Here you are able to choose the URL for your blog as well as the title.


Step 4: This step allows you to customise your blog by choosing a template which best suits you.


Step 5: You are now able to start creating blogs at your free will.

Photo Bucket evidence:

Extra Reading: In week one there were two extra segments we had to read and familiarise ourself with, these included PC Lube and Tune which is based upon providing customers with usable tutorials, introductions as well as education on various technical computing subjects. The other relating to the website "how stuff works" focusing directly on pc's, it shows information on what a computer is and how it works, showing an in depth video about the seven major components found in a computers and what they do.